1And there was a famine in the land , beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham . And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar . 2And the LORD appeared unto him, and said , Go not down into Egypt ; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3Sojourn in this land , and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed , I will give all these countries , and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father ; 4And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven , and will give unto thy seed all these countries ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; 5Because that Abraham obeyed my voice , and kept my charge , my commandments , my statutes , and my laws . 6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar : 7And the men of the place asked him of his wife ; and he said , She is my sister : for he feared to say , She is my wife ; lest, said he , the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah ; because she was fair to look upon . 8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time , that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window , and saw , and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife . 9And Abimelech called Isaac , and said , Behold, of a surety she is thy wife : and how saidst thou, She is my sister ? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said , Lest I die for her. 10And Abimelech said , What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife , and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 11And Abimelech charged all his people , saying , He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death .
The Reopening of Abraham's Wells
12Then Isaac sowed in that land , and received in the same year an hundredfold : and the LORD blessed him. 13And the man waxed great , and went forward , and grew until he became very great : 14For he had possession of flocks , and possession of herds , and great store of servants : and the Philistines envied him. 15For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father , the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth . 16And Abimelech said unto Isaac , Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. 17And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar , and dwelt there . 18And Isaac digged again the wells of water , which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father ; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham : and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley , and found there a well of springing water . 20And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen , saying , The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek ; because they strove with him. 21And they digged another well , and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah . 22And he removed from thence, and digged another well ; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth ; and he said , For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land .
God's Assurance to Isaac
23And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba . 24And the LORD appeared unto him the same night , and said , I am the God of Abraham thy father : fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 25And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD , and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well .
The Treaty with Abimelech
26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar , and Ahuzzath one of his friends , and Phichol the chief captain of his army . 27And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28And they said , We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said , Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; 29That thou wilt do us no hurt , as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good , and have sent thee away in peace : thou art now the blessed of the LORD . 30And he made them a feast , and they did eat and drink . 31And they rose up betimes in the morning , and sware one to another : and Isaac sent them away , and they departed from him in peace . 32And it came to pass the same day , that Isaac’s servants came , and told him concerning the well which they had digged , and said unto him, We have found water . 33And he called it Shebah : therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day . 34And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite , and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite : 35Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah .